Theos-Talk Archives (April 2005 Message tt00802)

Apl 15 2005
 
Dear Friends:
 
The following may be found to settle a number of questions that are being
debated in our exchanges:
 
1          What is the Aim of THEOSOPHY ?
 
2          Why was the THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY started ?
 
3          Who speaks for THEOSOPHY   ?
 
4          How can we help others ?
 
5          Who are the Mahatmas ?   Who was / is  HP B ?
 
 
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CAN THE MAHATMAS BE SELFISH ? 
 
                        by H. P. Blavatsky
                        
    Here are some statements that are important :
  
P. 321  UNSELFISHNESS is a sine qua non for success in occultism. 
 
 
the development of an unselfish feeling is in itself the primary training
which brings with it "knowledge which is power" as a necessary accessory. 
 
 
It is not, therefore, "KNOWLEDGE," as ordinarily understood, that the
occultist works for, but it comes to him as a matter of course, in
consequence of his having removed the veil, which screens true knowledge
from his view. 
 
 
The basis of knowledge exists everywhere, since the phenomenal world
furnishes or rather abounds with facts, the causes of which have to be
discovered. 
 
 
We see only the effects in the phenomenal world, for each cause in that
world is itself the effect of some other cause, and so on; and, therefore,
true knowledge consists in getting at the root of all phenomena, and thus
arriving at a correct understanding of the primal cause, 
 
 
the "rootless root," which is NOT AN EFFECT in its turn. 
 
 
To perceive anything correctly, one can use only those senses or instruments
which correspond to the nature of that object. Hence, to comprehend the
noumenal, a noumenal sense is a pre-requisite; while the transient phenomena
can be perceived by senses corresponding to the nature of those phenomena. 
 
 
OCCULT PHILOSOPHY TEACHES US THAT THE SEVENTH PRINCIPLE IS THE ONLY ETERNAL
REALITY, 
 
 
while the rest, belonging as they do to the "world of forms" which are
non-permanent, are illusive in the sense that they are transient. 
 
To these is limited the phenomenal world which can be taken cognisance of by
the senses corresponding to the nature of those six principles. It will thus
be clear that it is only the seventh sense, which pertains to the noumenal
world, that can comprehend the Abstract Reality underlying all phenomena. 
 
 
As this seventh principle is all-pervading, it exists potentially in all of
us; and he, who would arrive at true knowledge, has to develop that sense in
him, or rather he must remove those veils which obscure its manifestation. 
 
 
All sense of personality is limited only to these lower six principles, for
the former relates only to the "world of forms." Consequently, true
"knowledge" can be obtained only by tearing away all the curtains of Maya
raised by a sense of personality before the impersonal Atma. 
 
 
322      It is only in that personality that is centered selfishness, or
rather the latter creates the former and vice versa, since they mutually act
and react upon each other. 
 
 
For, selfishness is that feeling which seeks after the aggrandisement of
one's own egotistic personality to the exclusion of others. 
 
 
If, therefore, selfishness limits one to narrow personalities, ABSOLUTE
KNOWLEDGE is impossible so long as selfishness is not got rid of. 
 
 
So long, however, as we are in this world of phenomena, we cannot be
entirely rid of a sense of personality, however exalted that feeling may be
in the sense that no feeling of personal aggrandisement or ambition remains.

 
 
We are, by our constitution and state of evolution, placed in the "World of
Relativity," but as we find that IMPERSONALITY AND NON-DUALITY IS THE
ULTIMATE END OF COSMIC EVOLUTION, 
 
 
we have to endeavor to work along with Nature, and not place ourselves in
opposition to its inherent impulse which must ultimately assert itself. To
oppose it, must necessitate suffering, since a weaker force, in its egotism,
tries to array itself against the universal law. 
 
 
All that the occultist does, is to hasten this process, by allowing his Will
to act in unison with the Cosmic Will or the Demiurgic Mind, which can be
done by successfully checking the vain attempt of personality to assert
itself in opposition to the former. 
 
 
And since the MAHATMA is but an advanced occultist, who has so far
controlled his lower "self" as to hold it more or less in complete
subjection to the Cosmic impulse, it is in the nature of things impossible
for him to act in any other but an unselfish manner. 
 
 
No sooner does he allow the "personal self" to assert itself, than he ceases
to be a MAHATMA. 
 
 
Those, therefore, who being still entangled in the web of the delusive sense
of personality charge the MAHATMAS with "selfishness" in withholding
"knowledge"-- do not consider what they are talking about. 
 
THE LAW OF COSMIC EVOLUTION IS EVER OPERATING to achieve its purpose of
ultimate unity and to carry the phenomenal into the noumenal plane, and the
MAHATMAS, being en rapport with it, are assisting that purpose.
 
 
They therefore know best what knowledge is best for mankind at a particular
stage of its evolution, and none else is competent to judge of that matter,
since they alone have got to the basic knowledge which can determine the
right course and exercise proper discrimination.
 
 
323      For us who are yet struggling in the mire of the illusive senses to
dictate what knowledge MAHATMAS shall impart to us and how they shall act,
is like a street-boy presuming to teach science to Prof. Huxley or politics
to Mr. Gladstone. 
 
 
For, it will be evident that, as soon as the least feeling of selfishness
tries to assert itself, THE VISION OF THE SPIRITUAL SENSE, WHICH IS THE ONLY
PERCEPTION OF THE MAHATMA, becomes clouded and he loses the "power" which
abstract "knowledge" alone can confer. 
 
 
Hence, the vigilant watch of the "Will" we have constantly to exercise to
prevent our lower nature from coming up to the surface, which it does in our
present undeveloped state; and thus 
 
 
EXTREME ACTIVITY AND NOT PASSIVITY IS THE ESSENTIAL CONDITION WITH WHICH THE
STUDENT HAS TO COMMENCE. 
 
 
First his activity is directed to check the opposing influence of the "lower
self"; and, when that is conquered, 
 
 
his untrammelled Will centered in his higher (real) "self," continues to
work most efficaciously and actively in unison with the cosmic ideation in
the "Divine Mind." 
 
                                    Theosophist, August, 1884 
 
 
H P B Articles,   Vol. I,   p. 321
 
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Best wishes,
 
Dallas